Luxury Holidays for Less

Extracted from “Personal Money : August 2011”

Travel in style without emptying your savings account

While most of us may not have that many reward points or frequent flier miles – and may not be as single-minded in the pursuit of raking up loyalty points – it’s still possible to go on a luxury holiday without taking out a second mortgage. Here’s how.

Rent a Villa

There’s safety in numbers and there’s also savings in numbers. Ask your family and friends whether they would like to come along. Vacation rentals are almost always equipped with a small kitchen, so you can do your own cooking and save on the food bill. And if you don’t mind roughing it – like taking turns sleeping on the couch – then you could opt for smaller places for additional savings. Homeaway.com is a useful website for those keen on vacation rentals. Listing properties around the world, it allows you to rent a property for a night or longer, and what’s great about it is that you deal directly with the property owner. And there are some really good deals to be had, especially locations where hotel rooms may be somewhat expensive. For example, you could get a three-bedroom, two-bathroom villa on the French Riviera for a week for US$1,200 (RM3,656) to US$2,600 a week: If you have a group of six, it works out to US$28 to US$62 a night per person. For those who prefer inns and bed and breakfast lodgings, bedandbreakfast.com is a useful site. Reviews from previous travellers are also included to help you make your decisions.

Private Sales

Private sales are increasingly popular on the Internet, and beyond the sale of designer clothes, there are also sites and search engines offering travel packages and accommodation. Kayak, for example, has a Private Sale service, which sends out weekly emails to subscribers on private, special deals. Another site is Jetsetter.com – the travel community offers members insider access and exclusive deals on great holidays, from wine country journeys in California’s Napa Valley to sun-and-surf getaways at some of the Carribbean’s best beach destinations. What sets it apart is its team of curators who select the hotels, cruises and tours. It also has a team of travel writers who review the offerings on the site. Bargain hunters will like its flash sales – about 20 to 30 are held each week for a limited period and discounts are up to 50%. The luxury travel deals are pretty good, such as a seven-night cycling tour of Tuscany’s rolling hills and historic towns for two adults (includes accommodation, breakfast and dinner) at US$5,950 (at a 30% discount). Launched in 2009, the invitation-only travel community now boasts some two million members worldwide. Consider this your personal invite to sign up as a member at http://www.jetsetter.com/personalmoney.

Booking Blind

One way to score luxury deals is through an opaque booking site. You pick the destination city and the site then comes up with a few hotels. For example, on Travelcity, you can ask for a “5-star top secret hotel in Las Vegas” and the site will come up with a list, including the lowest average rate per night and the general location of each hotel. With Wotif’s Mystery Deal, you’re given the general location (for example “Perth’s central business district” and not much else. Most of these mystery hotels are the sites’ existing accommodation partners, so if you’re not fussy about the exact location or don’t need to be close to a particular place, blind booking is a great way to save on luxury hotels. There are, of course, a few downsides – you may find that a train station is situated nearby or the hotel may not live up to its star rating. And, if you do not know the name of the hotel until you’ve made the booking, you can’t check the reviews of other guests.

   GermanWings (a low-cost airline based in Cologne, Germany) has taken the concept of blind booking further by offering low fares to surprise destinations – basically you select your departure airport (Berlin, Cologne, Hanover or Stuggart ), then select the theme of your holiday (from beach breaks and culture to nature and trekking holidays). The fare for each theme is displayed (from Euro29.99 to Euro49.99, all inclusive). Within each theme, there is a list of destinations that you can trim. You then select your travel dates and after you’ve made the payment, the destination will be revealed. Talk about air travel roulette!

Online Travel Auction

You can also get good deals on accommodation and holiday packages by bidding on travel auction sites. Although they operate like opaque booking sites, the sites, such as Priceline, allow you to name the class of the hotel, the general neighbourhood or location and your price. The site then also does the bidding for you. Other sites like SkyAuction and LuxuryLink reveal the name of the hotel that you’re bidding on, as well as the minimum bid. The savings through these sites can be quite substantial: For example, on LuxuryLink, the starting bid for 10 nights in an upmarket hotel chain in multiple destinations in India was US$3,568 (including taxes), which was almost half the regular price.